Get Published Weekly Roundup: September 4, 2017

Happy Labor Day! As we celebrate the American Labor Movement today, we also remember that it was only 60 years ago today, by orders of Governor Orval Faubus, 289 soldiers of the Arkansas National Guard prevented 9 African-American students, Elizabeth Eckford, Minnijean Brown, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrance Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It took almost three weeks before the students were protected by federal troops and could enter the school. For these heroes, high school was not a safe place, but a hostile environment where they took a stand and did what was right not just for their own advancement but for the betterment of our society. We give thanks for their sacrifice today.

In this week's GSF Roundup we highlight agent news (specifically agents that recently opened up to submissions), notices of approaching writing and submission deadlines, highlights from the past week's Manuscript Wishlist, and a few more tidbits at the end.

We'd love to hear your feedback. Please let us know what you think in the comments and if there are certain types of information you would like to see in the Roundup. Also feel free to tweet at us (@freelancingrads) with any ideas or questions. Have a great writing week!

Agent and Agency News

Open again, Open again, jiggety jig.

Jessica Watterson, Agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, is back open to queries.

Kelly Peterson, Junior Agent at the Corvisiero Literary Agency, is open to queries.

Kelly is seeking:

Fiction: Fantasy for MG, YA, NA, and Adult; add Romance for YA, NA, and Adult; and Science Fiction for MG and YA

Nonfiction: Nah.

"With books, there's just something about strong female main characters holding their own against the world, in an environment that Kelly could never, in her wildest dreams, find herself living within. It tears at her heart and pulls at her soul, especially when the main character finds that she never needed another to complete her in the first place."

Submission Deadlines

Writers, you have between six and ten days:

World in Focus In Focus Art & Essay Contest—Submissions due Sunday, September 10th (Art and Writing Contest—$$ Prize)

Who: Ages 10-18

What: Art or essay. 1,000-word maximum. $100 CAD Prize

"To promote awareness of the vision problems individuals in third-world countries may face on a daily basis, due to their difficulty in accessing resources and care; To promote outreach in the youth community by allowing them to reflect on the topic of sight and its importance; To encourage youth to express their creativity, individuality and talents on a global stage"

To Submit: Submit via the online form, here. For guidelines and more information, click here.

What: Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy, query and first 250 words. Five randomly selected entries will be evaluated by an agent, with feedback given about why they're passing, or why they're requesting pages.

"Querying authors get a peek into agents' minds as they go through their slush piles."

To Submit: Submission online (once the submission window is open), here or here. For guidelines, prompts, and other information, click here.

Who: Authors with a first novel, published between January and June 2017

What: Must be a first novel, published originally in the US, no YA/Middle Grade. Winner receives $5,000.

"The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award honors an outstanding debut novel published in the preceding calendar year. Symbolized by a three-dimensional compass, the award is a tribute to writers who have navigated their way through the maze of imagination and delivered a great read, taking the reader someplace new."

To Submit: For complete submission details, click here. For more information and other guidelines, click here.

"She loves books written in third-person with multiple POVs, quirky, realistic characters, rich descriptions, and a unique inclusion of mythologies. (However, Meg does love first-person stories with a single POV as well, or any combination thereof!)"

No, Leon, I'm sorry, I don't: "You know that Shanghai/Hong Kong/British Raj aesthetic that's a mash-up of Asian/South-Asian and Western culture? I love that." Source Tweet Oh, good, I must not be alone: "For reference, see (among many other things) The Age of Shadows, a Korean spy drama set during the Japanese occupation of Korea." Source Tweet

Ejusdem Generis

So writers, here's the thing. The first line of your manuscript is super important. Check out this insight #StraightFromAnAgent in Literary Agent Mary C. Moore's post, "Do Literary Agents Reject Your Submission After Reading One Line?"

Yes, I have rejected a submission based on the first sentence and yes, it happens more often than I’d like. But how could you possibly know from the first line? you ask.

Because it’s our job to know.

Sounds arrogant, sure. Believe me, I’ve been there on the other side, thinking it wasn’t fair that agents claimed they rejected a sub based on that first line. But after years of reading the slushpile, editing manuscripts, shopping clients, etc., I’ve been trained to see the level of prose based off that first line. Other agents will tell you the same.

Mary offers 10 things she determines about an author's manuscript from its first line. Read the full article by clicking here.

[UPDATE!! This live #askagent Instagram session with Carly Watters will be happening on September 6th at 4 pm Eastern Time.] "Instagram lovers: follow Agent Carly Watters to participate in her live #pubtip /#askagent session in early September." Source Tweet

Follow Carly on Instagram @CarlyWatters to participate in the session.

We just stumbled upon J.P. Beaubien's YouTube Channel Terrible Writing Advice. The writing and the publication process is a tough one and sometimes we just need a good laugh. Check it out... but, please, please don't follow his advice, especially on marketing your book:

Grad Student Freelancers (GSF) is dedicated to helping authors take care of the details of the publication process. Part of the process includes sifting through huge amounts of information to find important news, events, and tips that can give you an edge in the publication process. Every week GSF will provide three lists of curated information focused on helping writers get published. Our goal is to gather what's important from the web in the past week, so you can focus more on your writing.

Archives

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Kelly was indispensable in her organization and attention to detail with my book project for the University of Chicago. She had a large amount of material to review and manage, lots of sources to research and cite, and was able to tackle it all while needing very little guidance from me. Beyond that, she also compiled chapter abstracts and keywords, and went back through my work multiple times as changes were made. She was invaluable.

Jane Friedman, publishing consultant and former publisher of Writer's Digest

Kelly's tenacity in tracking down rights holders was exceptional. I'm convinced she is actually a detective.Glenn Kammen, Author

Christopher was exactly what I was looking for. He is a great biblical scholar of historical criticism who held my writing feet to the fire. The biggest surprise is how good he is as a straight-up editor. It's ironic that I like his red pen more than a few "professional" editors I've worked with. Perhaps all editors should be put through the mandatory rigor of grading students' papers for a few years, as well as writing their own papers for tough professors.Kevin Bader, writer